Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
Icon, an Austin, Texas-based developer of construction technologies, received funding to research and develop a space-based construction system that could support future exploration of the moon. It has engaged two architecture firms as partners for the project: Denmark-based BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and New York City-based SEArch+. — Construction Dive
Related on Archinect: Construction tech developer ICON secures $35M in funding, BIG among investors View full entry
The ESA's astronaut center in Cologne, Germany, partners with universities and research institutions to study moon-related concepts in preparation for future missions. Angelus Chrysovalantis Alfatzis is one of the researchers who has contributed to the development of a promising concept for a moon base, according to a statement from ESA. — space.com
Space may be the final frontier, but over the years technological advances has brought the idea of humans inhabiting space a lot closer. The European Space Agency (ESA) has partnered with universities and research institutions to investigate and study concepts related to the moon and future space... View full entry
It might sound like a plot cooked up by a cartoon villain, but a city in southwestern China is aiming to launch into space an artificial moon that could replace streetlights by bathing the ground in a “dusk-like glow.”
[...] the satellite’s mirror-like exterior would reflect sunlight down to Earth, creating a glow about eight times brighter than the moon. The artificial moon, which he said would orbit about 500 kilometers above Earth, could save $174 million in electricity from streetlights.
— NBC News
The capital of China's Sichuan province, Chengdu, could have its own illumination satellite 'moon' up in the skies by 2020, according to the People's Daily. Light pollution, and its documented health effects on humans and nocturnal wildlife, doesn't seem to be much of a concern to the officials... View full entry
Last week saw the announcement by Elon Musk that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa would be the first private passenger aboard the Tesla CEO's Big Falcon Rocket. Alongside, it was also suggested that Maezawa would invite a group of artists to come along on his trip to the moon, expected to... View full entry
Elon Musk has revealed Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa as the potential first passenger to be launched to the moon by Musk's private aerospace company, SpaceX. Ranked the 18th richest person in Japan, Mr. Maezawa is the founder of the online fashion retail website Zozotown. He is also known... View full entry
Scientists with the European Space Agency (ESA) have created a terrestrial simulation of moon dust to practice making bricks with. And it appears lunar “soil” is significantly different from its terrestrial equivalent, as it can be crushed, burned and compressed to form building materials, or used as the raw material for 3D printing. — globalconstructionreview.com
The European Space Agency (ESA) is experimenting with lunar dust as a building material with goals to avoid lifting hefty materials from Earth into space. Lunar dust is electrically charged and primarily composed of basalt (like volcanic rock) with 40% of its mass made of oxygen. ESA is testing... View full entry
Continuing with designing for space, Foster + Partners will showcase their vision of life on Mars and the Moon as part of the Future Lab showcase at the 2018 Goodwood Festival. The firm will show a range of models, robotics, and futuristic designs to explore the future of life in space... View full entry
This post is brought to you by Eleven Magazine. In 1969, the Space Race peaked with the success of the Apollo 11 mission bringing the first man to walk on the Moon. Today, nearly half a century later, new technological advances and a renewed interest in space are igniting a new race. This time... View full entry
[Jorge Mañes Rubio] plans to 3D print portions of the temple; other sections will incorporate an existing boulder, creating a cross between a building and a cave...The work will engage with a wide swath of architectural history, including the Pantheon, Mayan temples, and the Egyptian pyramids, [he] says. But when considering the possibilities on the moon, 18th-century French utopian architects like Étienne-Louis Boullée or Claude-Nicolas Ledoux have been the most influential. — Artsy
For his current endeavor called Peak of Eternal Light, artist Jorge Mañes Rubio is working with the ESA to build a temple on the moon, as a way to “examine the potential social and anthropological aspects of colonizing celestial bodies”. More on Archinect:ESA proposes a village on the... View full entry
This post is brought to you by Eleven Magazine. In 1969, the Space Race peaked with the successful Apollo 11 mission, which allowed the first man to walk on the moon.Between 1969 and 1972, there have been six successful manned missions to the moon, all from the USA. In total, 12 people (all male)... View full entry
Super-starchitect Lord Norman Foster and his friends at the European Space Agency stunned the world last year with a plan to build a lunar base by 3D-printing it with moon dust. But what happens when you try something like that on Earth? How is 3D printing changing the way we build cities?
I got the chance to ask Foster just that question at the Center for Architecture in New York City last night.
— gizmodo.com
Previously on Archinect: Foster + Partners works with European Space Agency to 3D print structures on the moon View full entry
USC Professors Behrokh Khoshnevis (Engineering), Anders Carlson (Architecture), Neil Leach (Architecture) and Madhu Thangavelu (Astronautics) have completed their first visualization for their NASA research grant into the potential use of Contour Crafting robotic fabrication technology to build structures on the Moon. [...] Contour Crafting was recently voted one of the top 15 innovations most likely to change the World. The question now being addressed is how it will change the Moon. — parasite.usc.edu
For more information on Contour Crafting, visit contourcrafting.org. View full entry